Advent 2014

Happy New Church Year!!!  

Advent is here again, hooray!  Time to start over.  Time to prepare for Christ to come.  Time to be watchful and ready.  Such a great time of year - kinda like Lent, but a little less harsh.

If you are curious what we have done in the past, you can read all about our previous Advents here.

TRADITIONAL:  We are doing a lot of the same stuff as these past years, including: The Traditional Advent Wreath, The Story of Christmas Book (with an ornament and reading for each day in December),  and The Jesse Tree (a lot like the Story of Christmas book - ornaments for each day that have symbols from the Scripture stories they represent).  I'm short on time so I won't go into a lot of detail on things we have previously done.  We also have our outdoor Nativity scene up.  Unfortunately none of the characters (Mary, Jesus, and Joseph) work this year and I'm too lazy to check the bulbs and fuses, but I did put lights around them so you can see they are there.

NEW:  The one new item this year is a manger for baby Jesus.  We are going to soften the bed for baby Jesus (with cut up pieces of string) by our good deeds and sacrifices.  Then on Christmas we will put our "big" baby Jesus in his bed.  This is my first year for this because I just found a "big" baby Jesus and bed that I could afford this year.

The "manger" for Jesus is in the middle and I am going to keep the string in the blue bowel beside it, until we put it in piece by piece through our acts of charity and sacrifice.  On a side note, notice how sad my Advent wreath looks without candles :(  I did find ONE after this picture, so I guess that gives me exactly a week to get more!

PRAYER:  I'm thinking of possibly doing some Liturgy of the Hours with the older kids this year.  Night Prayer is nice and short, but kind of dark and dreary, so maybe we will try Morning Prayer or Daytime Prayer.

MUSIC:  Since my son Samuel has proven he REALLY likes singing and music can be quite holy I am also hoping to add more singing - at least a song or two (a "hymn" or two - not Old MacDonald or some such - hah) with the children each day of Advent.  Perhaps we can keep this up during the Christmas Season and on to Ordinary Time, and perhaps it can encourage me to get better at playing the piano!!  (Ok, let's not get crazy - hopeful, but not crazy :)

GIFT:  I was also going to wrap up 25 books and have the kids unwrap one for each day in December, but it is the night before December 1st and I have to wrap the books so. . . I'm guessing this probably won't happen this year.  But maybe next year.  (Note: Supposedly you are supposed to give your kids 25 NEW books for this, but I figure have a TON of books we have barely read - and some really good ones, too! - so why not just wrap up the ones we have?  I imagine it would be almost as special as the kids really care more about me reading them the story, I am sure, than the actual book itself being new or old.)

CRAFT:  We also have some crafts I picked up from Oriental Trading that I was thinking of giving a try.  Nothing too spectacular, just a sticker nativity and an Advent candle craft.  I know, why waste the money on something I could probably do better from scratch?  Well, I will tell you why - because this way I might ACTUALLY DO THEM!!  I often shy from crafts because of all the prep work involved.  The prep work is done for me and the crafts were CHEAP.  Plus since they come by the dozen we can do them this year and next!!

So, there ya have it.  Sorry I cannot take time to be more exciting about all this.  Well, let me rephrase that.  I AM EXCITED about ADVENT!!  But I am once again up against the wire (as Advent is HERE!!) and I'm exhausted from being sick for a long while and then just finishing up Thanksgiving celebrations today.  So I do not have a lot of time to put lots of fun links and pictures into this post.  But something is better than nothing.  So here is something.

Lent 2014

It is the night before Ash Wednesday and all through the house. . . Mom cannot find the Lenten cross.

I'm admitting defeat of "my plan" to do our traditional Lenten Cross (which we have done for a couple of years, now).  Although it is frustrating to be looking for something and not able to find it (as is the story of much of my life - my mom used to ALWAYS be losing things when I was a kid and I thought it was just because she had Multiple Sclerosis, but. . . now I know better.  It is a genetic trait and I have it, too!!) I am slightly relieved to not be doing this particular Lenten practice this year.  It is just so big and the Scripture verses can be long and difficult to explain to my younger children.  Really I wash each verse and picture had more of a mini-homily to go along with it and maybe a timeline or some way to connect all the parts would be nice.  (Honestly, I like this practice, but if I were to make it "perfect" and all. . .  :) )  Anyhow, since I cannot find my actual cross or the laminated pictures that go on it, I'm planning to use a book I picked up a couple of years ago, but was above my children at the time.  It is called A Family Journey with Jesus through Lent.  It looks pretty neat, now and I think my older kids will really get into it.  I figure we will put our candles (white ones now, to keep things simple) on the table and light them while I read it so the little ones have something to look at.

We are also doing a sacrifice jar for the kids to put a token in for each sacrifice they make.  (That would be the big empty jar in the picture above.)  In the past we have done a paper cross on the wall before and put flowers on it for "good deeds."  I also have made a crown of thorns out of dough, with toothpicks that we removed before, but again, removal was granted through "good deeds,"  and I have since run into trouble defining "good deeds," especially for multiple ages of children.  So this year we are using "sacrifice" as our terminology to help keep them focused in the right direction.  I think they have a general gist of what that word means.  I will leave it up to the kids to define it specifically, but here are some things I have in mind:

1) Giving up a toy for the day
2) Skipping a treat, or snack
3) Giving in to a sibling (letting them have a toy or choose the game, etc)
4) Work sacrifice (doing a non-required chore for no reward)
5) Prayer sacrifice (praying for someone or a special cause)

I plan to join them, in "sacrificing" in this manner. I figure this is kind of like a day by day resolution that is always changing.  I hope it will keep things "fresh."

I have some additional personal resolutions in mind, but I cannot seem to choose one or two or even three, and I'm sure there are too many for me to do them all every day, so I'm thinking I might list them all with numbers and roll dice to pick three or so a day.  (And being a "gamer" I have dice with up to 20 sides, so no worries about there being too many - hehe)  Here are my ideas for personal resolutions:

1) Limit facebook time (using a timer)
(I must add it is simply not feasible for me to cold turkey away from facebook.  Being home all day with the kids, it is my connection to other adults and the outside world.  Likewise, since I do not have a cell phone, it is often a necessary tool to connect with friends - and even my husband on important matters.)
2) Read the daily Mass readings for the day
3) Say the Office or Morning or Evening Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours 
4) Write a letter to a friend or relative
5) Wear a pair of shoes I do not like
6) Say a decade (or all) of the Rosary
7) Pray the Stations of the Cross
8) Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet
9) Go to Adoration
10) Sing a Lenten song
11) Spend 15 minutes doing Spiritual reading
12) Spend 15 minutes reading my Catechism
13) Avoid sweets/chocolate/dessert of any kind

We are also doing this Lenten track from Catholic Icing.  We have done it every year.  A couple years ago I gave each child their own to color, but last year we just had Rebekah color one on the wall for everyone to look at.  Assuming their are no objections, we will have Rebekah color this one - or let her alternate with another child if there is any interest.  Having one for each child is simply too tedious to keep track of them all and keep them all "up to date."

Finally, I am looking forward to listening to this Lent at Ephesus cd a friend recommended (and was kind enough to send me, thanks Monica!!).

I will close with a few catchy lines from the "Lent" track of our new FAVORITE cd by the Dogma Dogs. 

It's Lent, Lent, 
time to repent, 
because it's Lent, Lent, 
our wheels they get bent, 
by what we've done or failed to do
but ask for mercy, He'll give it to you. . . 

Here Comes Lent!

I am really looking forward to Lent this year.  I'm not sure if it is because I really feel like I personally need a good solid "detox" from worldly thinking, acting, eating, and just living in general, or because I am looking forward to Easter!!  The resurrection, the climax of our love story with God!  Joy that I desperately need this time of year when sickness is running crazy, cabin fever grows, cold weather lingers, and life just looks bleak.

In any case, ready or not, here comes Lent!!  So, what is the plan in our household, you might ask?  Well, read on and I will tell you all about it.

First off, check out my calendar.  After much deliberation, I concluded that construction paper taped to the bottom of my number pockets was my best bet for now.  I just do not have time do to anything more elaborate.  It is not fancy, but it works!  The kids can look and see that now we are in Lent!!

(Side note, this picture was taken last week - we are not that far behind in our calendar-keeping-skills :)

Secondly, the "Prayer Platter."  This concept came from Advent a couple years ago.  With young, curious children, I needed to move the Advent wreath off the table after use, so to make it easier, I put it on a platter.  Then I realized that lighting candles helped my kids focus on prayer, so when the Christmas season ended, we changed up the platter to reflect ordinary time and have been using it ever since (changing to the appropriate season, of course).  I try to have at least four candles (one for each kid to blow out) and the correct color (or close) for the liturgical season, and then whatever I can find to fill in.

As for the prayer part, we usually do a reading from this devotional (mostly for the little kids - although the big kids enjoy it, too).  Then we do some Scripture.  Sometimes I read from this Read-Along-Bible.  Other times I use the daily Mass readings (which I now get on my kindle from The Word Among Us - and am very pleased with I might add).  Then we usually do some sort of catechism lesson.  Sometimes I read from the "school" religion book (Religion 1 for Young Catholics, from Seton Homeschool), or we read a seasonal devotional,such as This Pamphlet, or we might even just read part of an educational children's book (such as Living the 10 Commandments for Children or Beatitudes for Children).  We close by saying our Morning Offering:

Good morning, dear Jesus, this day is for you.  We ask that you bless all we think, say, and do!

a Hail Mary (because that is Paul's favorite prayer), an Our Father (Samuel's favorite prayer), and a St. Michael prayer (which they all love).

Sometimes I also read a prayer from My First Prayers for My Family or My First Prayers With Mary, either before or after our formal prayers.  When we get back to studying the Rosary we will do the mystery for the Scripture and catechism part and then pray that decade (with our Scriptural Rosary book) instead of the formal prayer.  (That is what we have done in the past, anyhow.)

I should add that we usually do our "prayer" at breakfast.  But in a pinch, any meal will do - or snack for that matter.  The Morning Offering can easily be adapted to "Good afternoon, dear Jesus. . . " or even, "Good evening, dear Jesus. . . "

Up next is the Lenten Cross. We tried it a couple years ago, but I was not really properly prepared and the kids were a bit young.  The youngers are probably still too young, but I think Rebekah will get something out of it and possibly Samuel.  It has taken a bit of work to get it "set up" but I hope we can enjoy it for many years.



Here is what it will look like on the last day of Lent.

 I have a great 8x10 picture of Jesus with the crown of thorns and his head bent in prayer that I wanted to put here but I cannot find it. I used this frame to keep the spacing when I made the cross. Then, the only picture I could find to put here was this little postcard, so I left the frame up, but I am really not all that happy with it. Another bit of suffering I guess.

For the cross, I got a piece of fleece fabric and cut it into this cross. That was tough for my perfectionist nature as my hands are not crafty enough for what my brain thinks it should look like, but I sure tried.  Then I copied the symbols, colored them, laminated them, cut them out, and put velcro on the back so they would stick to the cross. Here are a couple close-up examples of the symbols and verses for each day.





I want to focus on the Stations of the Cross and I'm in the middle of making up a matching game for the stations as mentioned here.  I would show you a picture, but I'm not quite finished.  I'm hoping to pray the Stations of the Cross on Fridays.  We have the Stations of the Cross for Children book and I think it will work well for the kids.


This year we put our Lenten resolutions on crosses and put them up on the wall.  I did mine (Remain Calm, No Sweets, and Prayer - just to remind me of the prayer habits I am trying to continue and add to) and then Rebekah came up with her idea ("If one of my brothers wants something I have, I will give it to them.")

 

Return to the Lord, your God.  For gracious and merciful is he.  (Joel 2:13)